Another Refinery explosion

[pam]

This is becoming more and more common between explosions and fires at the refineries here in SLC.

The one today blew a house off it's foundation and it had to be condemned.

ksl.com - Explosion, fire at Woods Cross refinery rock neighborhood

Related story concerning history of problems at this refinery.

ksl.com - Refinery has history of problems

[john doe]

I think part of the problem is the difficulty in building new refineries so they just repair the old ones. My understanding is that this refinery is run by a relatively small company which likely did just the minimum in the safety department to keep operating.

[pam]

What I was surprised to learn was how close to the proximity of the refinery homes are built. The article states the one blown off the foundation is only 200 yards from the refinery. That's pretty darn close.

[BenRaines]

I bet the refinery was there before the house.

Ben Raines

[talisyn]

Yeah, I bet the house was a newbie, too. Scary though!

[boyando]

I'm all for new refineries. Anyone else?

[boyando]

What I was surprised to learn was how close to the proximity of the refinery homes are built. The article states the one blown off the foundation is only 200 yards from the refinery. That's pretty darn close.

Without trying to minimize the damage, the house was most likely not blown off it's foundation. Utah code requires large metal straps buried in the cement of the foundation and attached to the framing. These straps, along with very large bolts that are also buried in the cement of the foundation, are engineered to withstand hurricane winds. When I watched the video, I saw nothing to indicate that the home, although very damaged, was not still on it's foundation.

I know I could be wrong, but if you ask me, knocked off it's foundation was just an expression, too exaggerate an already bad situation.

[john doe]

I'm all for new refineries. Anyone else?

I'm all for it.

[john doe]

Without trying to minimize the damage, the house was most likely not blown off it's foundation. Utah code requires large metal straps buried in the cement of the foundation and attached to the framing. These straps, along with very large bolts that are also buried in the cement of the foundation, are engineered to withstand hurricane winds. When I watched the video, I saw nothing to indicate that the home, although very damaged, was not still on it's foundation.

I know I could be wrong, but if you ask me, knocked off it's foundation was just an expression, too exaggerate an already bad situation.

I wondered about that too, and all the video I've seen they have not shown the damage to the home. I have read that the home is condemned, so there must have been some sort of structural damage to it that can't be easily repaired.

[pam]

Without trying to minimize the damage, the house was most likely not blown off it's foundation. Utah code requires large metal straps buried in the cement of the foundation and attached to the framing. These straps, along with very large bolts that are also buried in the cement of the foundation, are engineered to withstand hurricane winds. When I watched the video, I saw nothing to indicate that the home, although very damaged, was not still on it's foundation.

I know I could be wrong, but if you ask me, knocked off it's foundation was just an expression, too exaggerate an already bad situation.

The majority of homes I've heard of being condemned had issues with foundations. Or roofs. Just my thinking..if this home was condemned they possibly saw something in the foundation not visible to us on a few brief clips of a video that would force them to do this.